The various embodiments described herein pertain generally to a shock absorbing device using a damper for ankle and knee joints.
In general, patients with degenerative arthritis or the elderly with weak knees may use shock absorbing devices for joints to protect their knees in a safe manner and to reduce fatigue and external impact on the knee joints. These shock absorbing devices are designed to use a typical controllable method for the purposes of controlling and stabilizing lateral movement of the knee joints, delimiting or correcting bending of the knee joints, and preventing the recurrence of injury of the knee joints.
Conventional methods for protecting a joint include: a method of wrapping the entire joint with an elastic body or wrapping dampers on the left and right sides of the joint with an elastic body, a method of strapping the body part to a brace, and so forth. The conventional dampers and the elastic bodies, however, have drawbacks in that they may not react to a distortion of the joint in a forward-backward direction though they react to a distortion of the joint in a left-right direction. Further, in case of wrapping the entire joint with the elastic body, the joint may not be rotated. Furthermore, in case of using the brace, although a shock or impact from the ground may not be delivered to the joint portion, it may be delivered upwards to another body portion.
In this regard, Korean Patent No. 1056621 (entitled “Knee brace and attachable ankle brace”) discloses a method of protecting a knee by fixing one's lower body to braces.
Further, Korean Patent No. 0688327 (entitled “Orthopedic knee joint brace) describes a technique of absorbing a shock by using a pair of left and right damping pivot assemblies.